BNZ Championship
The BNZ Championship is a New Zealand professional league for football clubs. At the top of the New Zealand football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Although the amount of clubs has not been confirmed it has been announced that the league will operate on a system of promotion and relegation with a lower leagued championship. Seasons dates have not been confirmed but teams play each team a total of two times in the season. It is sponserd by Bank of New Zealand and therefore officially known as the BNZ Championship. In the BNZ Championship, most of the games are played during Saturdays and Sundays, with a few games played during the weekdays. Not teams are yet to win the Championship. History Foundation The NZFF (New Zealand Football Federation) announced that New Zealand will be creating a new formatted league. NZFF Chairman Sam Cooper had this to say. “New Zealand as a nation has been putting us on the football world map lately with great performances from our International team (All Whites) and our U17 international team. Wee have also preformed well in the Hyundai A-League with the Wellington Phoenix. We at the NZFF believe that we need to continue our nation’s recent football success and expand on it. We are looking to create a completely new football league for New Zealand as we are disappointed at how the current NZFC is bringing in small crowds and little revenue. At this current point in time, we will not be releasing rules or the formatting of the league but we want to inform all New Zealanders that in late 2009, New Zealand football will be improved greatly .” The new league will be similar to the Australian Hyundai A-League with the league then play offs afterwards. Many top New Zealand players have also commented on the news of this new league with New Zealand captain Ryan Nelsen fully behind it stating “this has the potential to do wonders for New Zealand football” The league was going to be called the BNZ Championship (Bank of New Zealand Championship) because of main sponsers being BNZ. It was then announced that there would be a total of 22 teams in the championship, and each team to play each other 2 times each. 16 North Island clubs and 4 South Island clubs. Competition Format Competition Clubs Hamilton were early seen as hot contenders after top strikers Archie Thompson and Shane Smeltz joined Members for 2009-10 Players Many top players in the world have joined the Championship including New Zealand born Australian international Archie Thompson who joined Hamilton. Thompson stated as soon as he heard about the Hamilton team, he wanted to join. This was beacause Thompson was born in Otorohanga, Hamilton. Shortly after Thompsons arrival, New Zealand striker Shane Smeltz followed to Hamilton. All Whites star striker Rory Fallon joined his home town club Gisbourne and defender Andrew Boyens joined Dunedin Rovers. Australian superstar Mark Viduka joined power houses Auckland Utd Top Scorers BNZ Championship Stadia 2009-10